This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related letter  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Health Policy  • Quality of Care, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Drs Herzlinger and Parsa-Parsi attempt to account for apparently better health care in Switzerland than in the United States despite approximately one third less expenditure per capita.¹ They seek an explanation in the function of the insurance system. Examination of their data, however, raises a question of the actual cost of individual services provided. The Swiss have a higher rate of inpatient admissions with a substantially longer length of inpatient stay. They also have more practicing physicians and more pieces of expensive equipment per population unit. Although utilization rates for that equipment are not specified and the use of pharmaceuticals and their costs are not addressed, the only thing that appears to be less utilized in Switzerland than in the United States is physician visits. Given the higher number of inpatient days per population unit, a substantial part of the savings may be from a lower . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Mark Tuckfelt, MD
mtuckfelt@ormc.org
Orange Regional Medical Center
Goshen, NY

RELATED LETTER

Consumer-Driven Health Care: Lessons From Switzerland
Regina E. Herzlinger and Ramin Parsa-Parsi
JAMA. 2004;292(10):1213-1220.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED ARTICLES

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System
Thomas M. Vogt
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2337.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System
Erik von Elm, Matthias Egger, Daniel Pewsner, and Brigitte Bisig
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2337-2338.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System
William W. Pfaff
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2338.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System
Isabelle Peytremann Bridevaux and Brigitte Santos-Eggimann
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2338-2339.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System
Arnold Relman
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2339.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System—Reply
Regina E. Herzlinger and Ramin Parsa-Parsi
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2339-2340.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Holes in the Swiss Health Care System—Reply
Uwe E. Reinhardt
JAMA. 2005;293(19):2340.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Swiss Health System: Regulated Competition Without Managed Care
Uwe E. Reinhardt
JAMA. 2004;292(10):1227-1231.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT